While the smartphone patent wars have (thankfully) cooled down a lot over the last year, that doesn’t mean major tech companies aren’t still suing one another over patents on a pretty frequent basis. Reuters reports that yet another major patent lawsuit is now in the books after Google agreed to settle with Rockstar, a patent consortium with backers that include Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry and Sony.
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Rockstar rose to prominence in 2011 when it outbid Google and purchased 6,000 patents from Nortel for $4.5 billion. Two years later, it filed a lawsuit against Google over patents that related to advertising and search, which just happen to be the two areas at the core of Google’s business. However, it seems that Rockstar’s asking price wasn’t too extravagant as Google and the consortium agreed to a settlement without going to trial.
“Google and Rockstar have agreed to settle ‘all matters in controversy between the parties,’ according to a filing in an Texas federal court on Monday,” writes Reuters. “However, the document does not say whether Rockstar has also settled with handset makers including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.”
In other words, while Google may be off the hook, Samsung could still face some significant legal action.
